Voting for the IU Student Government student body president and vice president election will be open from 10 a.m. Tuesday to 10 p.m. Wednesday online. Each student will receive an email from the IU Division of Student Affairs with a link to vote Tuesday morning.
The two tickets on the ballot are Thrive for IUSG and Unite for IUSG. Both parties participated in a town hall and a debate where they discussed their platform in recent weeks.
Sophomores Kyle Seibert and Bell Pastore are running for president and vice president on the Thrive for IUSG ticket. Seibert is currently a resident assistant, and Pastore is a co-director for the IUSG First-Year Internship Program, which is a part of the executive branch.
Unite for IUSG presidential candidate sophomore Aidan Chism and vice presidential candidate junior Alida Flores are both current members of IUSG Congress.
Related: [IUSG executive branch candidates discussed branch relations, representation at Friday debate]
The three pillars of Thrive for IUSG’s campaign are safety, inclusion and wellbeing. Unite for IUSG’s three goals are safety, health and sustainability.
Chism said his ticket, compared to Thrive for IUSG, has more realistic expectations about what they can accomplish if he and Flores are elected.
Anyone can promise things like divesting from fossil fuels and organizing a union for graduate employees, but those can’t be accomplished after one year in office, Chism said.
“Our realistic approach to the job, and focusing on both micro and macro issues at the same time will allow us to serve students the best,” Chism said.
Seibert said what differentiates Thrive for IUSG from Unite for IUSG is the relationship he and Pastore have built with other students.
“We're a fun, loving group of people,” Seibert said. “We’ve worked hard to be nice to people on a daily basis to put in the work to slowly build meaningful relationships with all kinds of people.”
Chism and Flores said candidates have used the same campaign points every year, usually making big promises they can’t keep. Unite for IUSG said they want to focus on achievable goals the university would be more willing to work on.
“It's very important to us that we hold the administration accountable and set up the environment so we can start to create bigger changes,” Flores said. “It's going to set us up to a point where we are more capable of achieving such bigger demands, if we start to accomplish the smaller things first.”
Related: [IUSG Congress passes legislation condemning police brutality, antisemitism]
When it comes to creating change, Seibert said IUSG is powerless without the support of the student body.
“We get all of our voices and our energy and our motivation from the student body,” Seibert said. “We can't do anything without input and help from the student body.”
Chism and Flores said it is important to understand how IUSG works to advocate for the students as much as possible. Chism said few people have a better understanding of how IUSG can function at its best than he and Flores because of their experience in Congress and the bylaws they have written.
Although they have less experience with IUSG between the two of them, Pastore and Seibert said they have experience working in leadership positions, building relationships with students and talking with administrators.
“We want students to see IUSG as an organization that they can come to whether it's an organization, a student club, anything,” Pastore said. “We're in the ear of administrators, we're in the ear of Congress, and we have such a special ability to amplify student's voices and help people find their home on campus.”
Both tickets said they want students to feel that IUSG listens to them and advocates for them.
“It's really important for other students to know about IUSG’s existence, and to feel that it's a culture where they can approach us, they can talk to us and bring their concerns to us,” Flores said.
